Key to Authority

“Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king. The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves…” Esther 8:10-11a

In Matthew 16:19 Jesus said that he would give His church the keys to His kingdom, and that “whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Keys represent access to authority.

When we are vertically aligned with God under His Lordship and are horizontally aligned with Him in loving others, He grants us access to His authority. God literally begins to use us as His voice, His hands, and His feet with authority wherever He puts us. Why? Because we are surrendered to our King – for His glory and the good of others. This story of Mordecai paints an amazing picture of this.

In Esther 8, Mordecai was elevated to third in command over the kingdom. He was given authority by the king to write an edict to protect God’s people from destruction. It’s interesting that Mordecai wrote the edict himself, the king did not. But the edict stated that the king granted the Jews the right to assemble and defend their lives, not Mordecai.

So wait a second. Did the king write this edict to grant protection to the Jews or did Mordecai? The answer is, both! Because Mordecai was properly aligned under the king he had access to the king’s authority. Even though the king didn’t write or author the edict, it carried the authority of the king as if the he wrote it himself. This is a real-life picture of authority being given to God’s man in a particular situation for the glory of God and the good of others. Just like the king gave Mordecai authority, Jesus also gives us access to His authority to complete His work in the earth – for His glory and the good of others.

This is a powerful truth that can easily be misinterpreted in selfish ways. We must understand that the key to authority is to be fully submitted to the king which means total surrender to the King as Lord of our lives. Our one goal is to complete the work He’s given us to do under His authority, for His glory and the good of others.